From stupidity to madness

The posthumous work by Umberto Eco, which the author submitted to the printer a few days before his death, is a selection of articles previously unpublished in Spain, chosen by himself.

A succession of small intellectual pleasures

"Umberto Eco changed our perspective on books: essential, small, fragile, sometimes criminal, almost always saviors. A master who taught us to interweave wisdom and play with his astute and playful style, with his astonishing inventiveness and accurate lucidity."
Irene Vallejo

"When I was young, there was an important difference between being famous and being talked about by everyone. Most wanted to be famous for being the best athlete or the best dancer, but no one liked to be talked about by everyone for being the village cuckold or a low-class whore; in the future, this difference will no longer exist: as long as someone looks at us and talks about us, we will be willing to do anything."

These words are a good example of what From Stupidity to Madness offers us, a series of articles that Umberto Eco published in the press over fifteen years and personally selected shortly before he passed away.

International figures, as well as some of Eco's most beloved fictional characters, such as James Bond or the protagonists of some of his favorite comics, appear in these pieces. And once again, there is a nostalgia for the lost past, an ironic reflection on power and its instruments, and a critique of a consumerism that leaves us full of objects and empty of ideas.

Genius, wisdom, and a sense of humor: there is a bit of everything in this book, a farewell worthy of a great master.